Publicis Groupe to acquire Sapient

Publicis Groupe and Sapient have announced that they have entered into an agreement under which the Groupe will acquire Sapient in a $ 3.7 billion deal.

Maurice Lévy, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said, “Sapient is a ‘crown jewel,’ a one of a kind company born in the technology space with strengths in marketing, communications, consulting and omni-channel commerce, all of which are equally important to best help clients achieve their digital transformation. It will also give Publicis Groupe access to new markets and creating new revenue streams. This acquisition fulfills many of Publicis Groupe’s objectives: we will enhance our leadership position in digital, achieve our goal of deriving 50 per cent of our revenues from digital and technology three years ahead of our 2018 plan, and leverage technology, consulting capabilities to expand in new verticals, and offering new and exciting opportunities to our talents.”

Alan J Herrick, president, CEO and co-chairman, Sapient, will join the Publicis Groupe senior management team as CEO of Publicis. Sapient, the new platform for all digital initiatives from the Publicis Groupe.

Publicis. Sapient will house the three divisions of Sapient – SapientNitro, Sapient Global Markets and Sapient Government Services – besides Publicis Groupe’s digital brands DigitasL Bi, Razorfish Global and Rosetta.

Sapient Nitro, the digital marketing unit, expanded to the Middle East with a Dubai office in 2010, on the back of the Mars business. Campaign Middle East reported that it shut shop in 2012 following loss of that account.

Sapient was founded in 1990 and has 13,000 employees in offices across 37 cities, in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. It registered over $1.3 billion in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2014.

With the addition of Sapient, Publicis Groupe will have over over 75,000 people worldwide, a statement said.